![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791916462_752_a25d22cc-daea-482f-993b-fc2b4be70527.jpeg\" "\\"An")
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An interior rendering of Lee Health Fort Myers at the intersection of Colonial and Jones-Walker boulevards.<\/p>\n
Provided by Lee Health<\/p>\n
USA TODAY Network, Reuters<\/p>\n
Lee Health’s mission is to be a trusted partner, empowering healthier lives through care and compassion. This mission inspires me and drives our team members and the work they do every day and night. We recognize that to be a trusted partner, we need to know our patients and the communities we serve. We need to understand their changing health needs, the disparities that exist, barriers to care, and the challenges affecting our communities.<\/p>\n
The Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) helps us answer important questions about what our patients and neighbors need and where health disparities exist. Conducted every three years, the CHNA reflects a broad and inclusive approach, incorporating feedback from a random sample of Southwest Florida residents, insights from community leaders, and an analysis of existing public health data. Together, these perspectives provide a clear picture of both current health challenges and emerging needs across our region.<\/p>\n
The information we gather through the CHNA serves as a foundation for collaboration and action, helping guide our priorities, strategies, and investments in programs and services. Listening and learning through the CHNA allows us to focus on the areas where we can make a meaningful and measurable difference in the health and well-being of Lee County.<\/p>\n
Based on the 2026 CHNA, the five prioritized health needs are:<\/p>\n
Access to healthcare servicesChronic disease prevention and managementMaternal, fetal, and infant healthMental health and substance use disorderNutrition, physical activity, and weight<\/p>\n
Last month, Lee Health hosted an event for community members and partners to learn more about key insights from the 2026 CHNA and explore these priority health needs. Attendees also explored a new dashboard that puts meaningful community health information in the hands of residents, community organizations, healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, policymakers, and other partners.<\/p>\n
The dashboard brings together local health data, community needs, Lee Health’s strategic health priorities, reports, resources, and opportunities for action – all in one convenient location. I encourage you to explore it yourself at communityhealth.leehealth.org.<\/p>\n
I plan to use this space to share more about what we learned through the CHNA, what the data tells us about the health of our community, and, most importantly, what we can do together to address these needs. Our commitment to being a trusted partner means not only listening to our community, but turning what we learn into action so Southwest Florida can grow healthier, stronger and more resilient.<\/p>\n
Ben Spence, MHA, is the president and CEO of Lee Health, Southwest Florida’s major destination for healthcare offering acute care, emergency care, rehabilitation and diagnostic services, health and wellness education, and community outreach and advocacy programs. Visit LeeHealth.org to learn more.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Lee Health: Understanding our community’s health needs<\/p>\n
Reporting by Ben Spence, MHA, President & CEO of Lee Health \/ Naples Daily News<\/p>\n
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
This story was originally published October 12, 2026 at 6:08 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An interior rendering of Lee Health Fort Myers at the intersection of Colonial and Jones-Walker boulevards. Provided by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-426819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}